UMPI Proposing 90-Credit YourPace BLS and Applied Psychology BA

[Jonathan Whatley]

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is advancing proposals to offer two 90-credit (90 semester hour) bachelor’s degrees, both in the YourPace CBE format: an Applied Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) and a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology.

The proposals were recently approved by University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy, and they come as numerous UMS institutions and others are developing 90-credit bachelor’s.

The proposed Applied BLS will consist of

• General Education Curriculum — 40 credits
  
• Minor — 18-24 credits
  
• Upper Level Electives — 24 credits
  
• General Electives — Remaining credits needed to total 90 credits
  

The proposed BA in Applied Psychology will consist of

• General Education Curriculum — 40 credits
  
• Psychology Core Requirements — 15 credits
  
• Psychology General Concentration — 30 credits (students can choose within a list of psychology and related courses)
  
• General Electives — 5 credits (the remaining credits needed to total 90 credits)
  

The proposed program launch dates in these documents are September 2026. I’d take that as tentative; further outside approvals will be required before launching.

Some graduates will want to go onward from a 90-credit bachelor’s to a 120-credit bachelor’s, especially when 120 is needed for admission to a graduate or professional school. The expectation is that 90-credit bachelor’s graduates will be able to transfer into a 120-credit program similar to how a 60-credit associate’s graduate can do so now.

Edited to add: The proposal was approved by the University of Maine System board.

UMS policy will restrict 90-credit bachelor's programs to adults with some prior earned credit who have been away from college for at least two years, though not necessarily the immediate past two years.

[bjcheung77]

It's really interesting why they're proposing these degrees at the time they're modifying how Sophia.org and Study.com classes come into play with transfers. Hmm, the main difference seems to be the electives, where you're removing 30 credits from the 120 credit BLS and the 30 for the 120 credit BA Psych. If someone wants to transfer classes in, they can continue to use Sophia.org and Study.com, along with other ACE options to complete the extra 30 electives. It may take a little longer to complete, say a month or two membership, you're going to get a slightly better recognized degree with the 120 credits...

[Mint Berry Crunch]

It's really interesting why they're proposing these degrees at the time they're modifying how Sophia.org and Study.com classes come into play with transfers.  Hmm, the main difference seems to be the electives, where you're removing 30 credits from the 120 credit BLS and the 30 for the 120 credit BA Psych.  If someone wants to transfer classes in, they can continue to use Sophia.org and Study.com, along with other ACE options to complete the extra 30 electives.  It may take a little longer to complete, say a month or two membership, you're going to get a slightly better recognized degree with the 120 credits...

Interesting... JWU also discussed about releasing a 90-91 credit Bachelors program as well

Maybe we are beginning to see a paradigm shift in higher education.

[SteveFoerster]

Maybe we are beginning to see a paradigm shift in higher education.

As in a race to the bottom? I could understand it better if I thought that universities would require 120 credits for entry into their Master's degree programs, or a combined 150 credits for a Master's degree. but I bet they won't.

[huiwh1998]

Clearly, UMPI doesn't know how other 3-year bachelor's countries work. For example, in the UK, India, Australia, Europe, and many countries that do 3-year majors mostly don't do gen eds. They specialized BEFORE entering college, and they do 3 years of major. In the US (4-year degree), when gen ed takes up 30% ish of your curriculum (and electives+pre-reqs around 20%), and you're left with two years of major studying. Now with the 3-year proposal, people are doing 1 year-ish of major studying, which is highly not specialized, while people in other countries do 3 years of major, and (usually, can't speak for all) in other countries it is mandatory to do a graduation dissertation/ thesis for their bachelors program...We'll see how it goes, but really not a big fan of that...

[bjcheung77]

Every school is different, they're trying to make things cheaper, easier, shorter for everyone by skipping those elective credits... We'll see what happens next...

[ss20ts]

Clearly, UMPI doesn't know how other 3-year bachelor's countries work. For example, in the UK, India, Australia, Europe, and many countries that do 3-year majors mostly don't do gen eds. They specialized BEFORE entering college, and they do 3 years of major. In the US (4-year degree), when gen ed takes up 30% ish of your curriculum (and electives+pre-reqs around 20%), and you're left with two years of major studying. Now with the 3-year proposal, people are doing 1 year-ish of major studying, which is highly not specialized, while people in other countries do 3 years of major, and (usually, can't speak for all) in other countries it is mandatory to do a graduation dissertation/ thesis for their bachelors program...We'll see how it goes, but really not a big fan of that...

Doesn't matter how things work in other countries. UMPI and every other college in the US has to work within their accreditation bodies requirements. In order to specialize in anything before college, the entire US education system would need to be completely made over and that's not going to happen anytime soon. A thesis for a bachelor's degree is overkill. I have completed 2 master's degrees and still haven't written a thesis. Many programs in the US don't have a thesis and we do just fine in our careers.

[huiwh1998]

I mean, I feel like UMPI is already easy/ fast/ cheap enough...There is no point in being even faster...

Maybe they should take the Canadian approach, cut gen eds to around 10%, cut most electives also, giving a 4-year bachelor's honors degree, and giving a 3-year bachelor's normal degree...

As for the honors college, I don't know, maybe rename it? Advanced college? Professional College? Advanced Studies? We'll see!

[tman66]

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is advancing proposals to offer two 90-credit (90 semester hour) bachelor’s degrees, both in the YourPace CBE format: an Applied Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) and a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology.

The proposals were recently approved by University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy, and they come as numerous UMS institutions and others are developing 90-credit bachelor’s.

The proposed Applied BLS will consist of

• General Education Curriculum — 40 credits
  
• Minor — 18-24 credits
  
• Upper Level Electives — 24 credits
  
• General Electives — Remaining credits needed to total 90 credits
  

The proposed BA in Applied Psychology will consist of

• General Education Curriculum — 40 credits
  
• Psychology Core Requirements — 15 credits
  
• Psychology General Concentration — 30 credits (students can choose within a list of psychology and related courses)
  
• General Electives — 5 credits (the remaining credits needed to total 90 credits)
  

The proposed program launch dates in these documents are September 2026. I’d take that as tentative; further outside approvals will be required before launching.

Some graduates will want to go onward from a 90-credit bachelor’s to a 120-credit bachelor’s, especially when 120 is needed for admission to a graduate or professional school. The expectation is that 90-credit bachelor’s graduates will be able to transfer into a 120-credit program similar to how a 60-credit associate’s graduate can do so now.

Edited to add: The proposal was approved by the University of Maine System board.

UMS policy will restrict 90-credit bachelor's programs to adults with some prior earned credit who have been away from college for at least two years, though not necessarily the immediate past two years.

It's one step closer to happening since the University of Maine System just approved it. Now they got to get approval from New England Commission of Higher Education in November and if that gets approved maybe we can see it in Summer 2026.
University of Maine System to lead state in accelerating adult degree completion with new applied 90-credit bachelor’s programs  - University of Maine System
New University of Maine System programs target workforce, degree completion | newscentermaine.com

[Duneranger]

Clearly, UMPI doesn't know how other 3-year bachelor's countries work. For example, in the UK, India, Australia, Europe, and many countries that do 3-year majors mostly don't do gen eds. They specialized BEFORE entering college, and they do 3 years of major. In the US (4-year degree), when gen ed takes up 30% ish of your curriculum (and electives+pre-reqs around 20%), and you're left with two years of major studying. Now with the 3-year proposal, people are doing 1 year-ish of major studying, which is highly not specialized, while people in other countries do 3 years of major, and (usually, can't speak for all) in other countries it is mandatory to do a graduation dissertation/ thesis for their bachelors program...We'll see how it goes, but really not a big fan of that...

Doesn't matter how things work in other countries. UMPI and every other college in the US has to work within their accreditation bodies requirements. In order to specialize in anything before college, the entire US education system would need to be completely made over and that's not going to happen anytime soon. A thesis for a bachelor's degree is overkill. I have completed 2 master's degrees and still haven't written a thesis. Many programs in the US don't have a thesis and we do just fine in our careers.

A thesis and dissertation may not be needed for some master's but it's uttery bizarre that there are online humanities-type masters with a non-thesis option. Total cop out.

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Clearly, UMPI doesn't know how other 3-year bachelor's countries work. For example, in the UK, India, Australia, Europe, and many countries that do 3-year majors mostly don't do gen eds. They specialized BEFORE entering college, and they do 3 years of major. In the US (4-year degree), when gen ed takes up 30% ish of your curriculum (and electives+pre-reqs around 20%), and you're left with two years of major studying. Now with the 3-year proposal, people are doing 1 year-ish of major studying, which is highly not specialized, while people in other countries do 3 years of major, and (usually, can't speak for all) in other countries it is mandatory to do a graduation dissertation/ thesis for their bachelors program...We'll see how it goes, but really not a big fan of that...

Yeah, but UK secondary schools are completely different. I have a masters from a UK school and know exactly how they work.

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I mean, I feel like UMPI is already easy/ fast/ cheap enough...There is no point in being even faster...

Maybe they should take the Canadian approach, cut gen eds to around 10%, cut most electives also, giving a 4-year bachelor's honors degree, and giving a 3-year bachelor's normal degree...

As for the honors college, I don't know, maybe rename it? Advanced college? Professional College? Advanced Studies? We'll see!

I do somewhat agree with this. Making these degrees ridiculously easy is just going to lead to further degree inflation. I am already seeing many jobs (basically entry-level) that prefer a master's degree.